In Kate DiCamillo’s Louisiana’s Way Home, Louisiana, has a way of characterizing people in a few sentences.
About her grandmother, Louisiana says, “If you have to choose between smiling and not smiling, choose smiling. It fools people for a short time. It gives you an advantage. According to Granny.” At that point, I started to wonder about Granny.
Louisiana says this about herself. “There are rescuers in this world and there are the rescued. I have always fallen into the second category.” DiCamillo provides lovely foreshadowing for a situation as yet unknown to Louisiana herself.
When Louisiana meets a boy named Burke, she says, “He was the kind of person who, if you asked him for one of something, gave you two instead.” I immediately liked Burke.
These pithy characterizations won’t work in every novel or with every character voice, but they are a useful tool for a writer. To find out how well you know your characters, try describing their essence in a sentence or two.
For example, the protagonist of one of my works in progress might say, “Love is impossible when you’re not allowed to tell the truth.” The protagonist of another work in progress might say, “A well-timed exit is eighty percent of the victory.”
If you feel so inclined, please use the comments to tell me what your characters have to say.